Iguazu Falls

Oh Iguazú. What an amazing trip it was. We left for the falls on Thursday October 5th around 8:00 at night. Our group included these amazing people: Esther, Laura, Becca, Nicola, Steve, Jay and Jim. The eight of us had a fun 20 hour bus ride up to the northernmost part of the country. Our bus ride included dinner, whiskey, coffee, pillows, blankets, two movies, breakfast, coffee, and juice! It was pretty incredible even though it was 20 hours on a bus. Our group really didn’t know each other very well before leaving so it gave us some time to chat and get excited about what was to come.

The next day we arrived in Puerto Iguazú around 2:00 in the afternoon. From the omnibus station we took the collective (local bus) to our campground: Viejo Americano. When we got there we couldn’t believe what we saw. Our campground basically looked like Disneyland. A pool, red and white stripped umbrellas and tables, nicer showers than in a hostel, grills, ample firewood, restaurant, and mini mart were all included in our costs! We set up camp that afternoon and immediately started cooking, despite the heat. We were starving so we started up the grill and cooked the hot dogs that probably wouldn’t have made it much longer. All of the buns were stale and basically crumbled through the grill, but we marched on! As the hot dogs were cooking we set up camp and managed to assemble the rented tent without a single problem. Steve set up his tent right by ours and we were set to go. After a late lunch we went and chilled out by the pool while the guys went over to the hostel next door to say hi to some other IES students that were staying there. We then headed back to the campsite to get things for dinner started knowing that cooking a campfire dinner can take hours.

Becca and I got a feeble fire going and said bye to the rest of the gang that had showered and were heading over to the hostel for happy hour while we cooked. While they were gone, I bonded with Becca over some mate and then we attempted to do the impossible: cook pasta in a kettle. And believe it or not, we were successful! First we boiled the water in the kettle, then added the pasta, then drained the water out of the spout! It seemed like a fool proof plan, until noodles started getting stuck in the spout of the kettle. Then we had to spoon three noodles out at a time. By the time we had about a cup full of pasta cooked, the kiddos returned from happy hour to help with the rest of cooking and get set for dinner. At the recommendation of some of the boys, we added hot dogs to the sauce for the pasta (EW! I thought it was nasty) and we then sat around our picnic table with our pasta/hotdog sauce feast complete with bread, grilled onions, and drinks. After dinner we had more mate, tried to play cards, but just ended up sitting around the fire ‘getting to know each other’ better. Hahaha it was one of those nights where just about everyone’s secrets spilled out and we had quite a few laughs. Honestly, I don’t think I stopped laughing the entire weekend. We had such amazing group chemistry and my stomach was just in knots the entire trip. Then came bedtime, which was quite an adventure in and of itself. Seven of us tried to squeeze into a tent made for four. Even with all of us turned on our sides we were till horribly uncomfortable and of course, dying of laughter. So we kicked Becca out to go sleep in Steve’s two person tent and things were slightly roomier. We fell asleep eventually, but it was probably the most horrendous night’s sleep I’ve ever gotten. I was sleeping right on a big root. It was kind of funny because it didn’t matter. We were all so happy to be camping in the rain forest and going to see one of the wonders of the world in the morning, so we didn’t care!

The next morning we woke up with the birds and dug through our dewy bags to find our breakfast of oranges and medialunas. After a nice breakfast, we headed off to the collectivo stop that would take us to the park. We talked to some nice people on the bus that were visiting from Texas all the way until we reached the park. While waiting in line to get tickets, I had probably one of my better ideas. It cost $30 pesos to get into the park as extranjeros (foreigners) and only $12 pesos to get in as Argentine residents. Remembering my handy dandy visa, we decided to see if we could get in for the 12 pesos, since we legitimately were residents of Argentina for six months. And with Jay as our best Spanish speaker, we were able to get into the park for only 12 pesos! This was really nice for a lot of reasons. One, because we’re pretty cheap. Two, it allowed us to spend more on the excursion once we entered the park. And three, it was pretty cool to say we were residents. I love this country.

So we got in and headed over to the information center where we signed up for the excursion to the falls. We then walked slowly to our meeting point killing time along the way taking pictures and stopping to look at the falls from the lookouts at the top of the falls. We couldn’t believe what an amazing sight they were! Looking down was kind of scary because we realized how high up we were and how incredibly powerful the water was, but it got us that much more excited to be able to see them from below in just a few hours. We then headed toward the meeting place for the excursion. The excursion first took us on a tour through the sub-tropical rainforest and then dropped us off down by the beach where we got on a boat to go see the falls. The beach that we were dropped off by absolutely took my breath away. The river was a beautiful color blue against a gorgeous cloudless sky. It was crazy to think that just on the other side of the river, those trees over there, is Brazil! We actually touched Brazilian waters with out bare hands.

The boat took us through level 3 rapids and slowly built our excitement for what we were about to see. About five minutes into the boat ride, we rounded a corner and all of our jaws dropped. The falls stood before us and nunca olvidaré I never will forget that moment, standing there in front of the falls. I couldn’t believe my eyes or just the fact that I was even there. Completely speechless. The boat took us down the river a little farther and approached the waterfall slowly. Then all of a sudden the driver gunned the engine and we went all the way into the fall getting completely soaked. He pulled back out and we went to another group of falls. He approached them slowly again, but this time asked me and my friends if we wanted to stand at the front of the boat on the stairs. We did, and he gunned the engine into the falls again and they came crashing down on our heads. I thought I was going to fall off the boat they were so powerful! Alas, we did not, but we all went back to our seats and started chanting, “otra vez! otra vez!” meaning “one more time!” and went in and out of the falls three times and we were TOTALLY soaked! When it came time to get off the boat, we decided to just take another small boat over to la Isla San Martín to lay out in the sun and dry off a bit. Well, we ended up going for a swim in the water right by the falls and then we got out to dry off a bit, of course all the while taking pictures and laughing because there was nothing in the world that could have ruined that day.

Then we hiked up the waterfall to catch the train to the other part of the park where we would see La Garganta del Diabolo (the devil’s throat). The train took us to a path that ten minutes later got us to La Garganta. And what a worthwhile ten minute walk that was!!! This is the largest waterfall in the whole park…the pictures are up on the website if you want to see it. I couldn’t believe how much water was coming of that cliff!! We took another million pictures and decided that it was sunset and probably should head back to the campground. We were so exhausted that night that we gave in and ate at the restaurant. No cookin for these tired out folks.
That night, Becca and I took a swim and were almost eaten by a bat, Steve did his dinosaur impression, I walked around like I had been riding a horse all day, and we made some more IES friends who came over to hang out with us form the hostel. All in all, it was an unbelievable day.

And then it was 4am. Raining. Just a little bit. But then, 4:30 am. My feet were wet. There was a small river at the bottom of the tent. It was a huge rainstorm and our tent was leaking. Not able to sleep and concerned about the water, Becca rain to the main office and bought us a cabin. At 5 am we were all awake running around our tent like crazies trying to save our stuff from getting completely mojado. In two trips we managed to get most all of our stuff from the campsite and ourselves to the cabin, but we were drenched. There were rivers where paths normally were, and everything was a complete disaster. But we had fun anyway! I think we had forgotten that we were in the rainforest…

When we woke up again in our warm, dry beds, we were pretty bummed cuz the day hadn’t improved. It was still raining and none of our stuff was drying. But, Jay and Jim showed up wearing trash bags and decided that we were going to the falls for day two because we get in on day two for half the price of day one. Yeah, we got into the falls for 6 pesos folks. The park was empty and we had the entire place to ourselves. We explored parts that we hadn’t seen the day before, stood at the foot of a waterfall and screamed, “we freaking love Argentina”, and hiked some serious trails that left us sweating and wishing we could go swimming again. We even took some trails that were off limits and then Steve hopped over a moving wall, fell, and the park ranger probably never wanted to see another American in his life. Nevermind..haha. The pictures of the second day aren’t as perfect as the first day because of the fog and the sky wasn’t quite as blue, but we really bonded as a group and found a different kind of beauty in the park that day.

On our way home, we stopped at Tío Juano’s supermarket to pick up some food for an asado, Steve and Jay style. But on the way home, the collectivo decided to drop off everyone on our bus literally in front of their doorsteps. This meant, the bus went through the muddiest and sketchiest parts of town and we barley made it out alive! The bus fishtailed and spun in the mud so much I was hanging on for dear life. Okay Im exaggerating a bit, but it was pretty funny that the bus driver took everyone to their front door! When we got back , I cleaned the cabin, Jay made his famous Mexican guacamole, and Steve managed to help Jay cook some pretty fine meat. We ate like kings that night, drank mate, wine, and stayed up almost all night just hanging out and talking. I will never forget that night for as long as I live. THE FOOD WAS SOOOO GOOD!! It was nice to not be on chef duty for once. I was completely impressed by our chefs for the night.

The next day Laura and I laid by the pool for a few hours before we had to catch the bus to get home. The bus ride home was really relaxing, full of all the awesome things we had on the way there. Iguazú was an incredible trip, something that will stay with me forever. And to all of you who went with me, thank you for making it such an AMAZING TRIP! YOU ARE AWESOME!